WEC - Dalziel Post Season Interview

Daytona, Nov. 21, 2012: World endurance champion Ryan Dalziel can be
forgiven for pinching himself to see whether the 2012 season actually
happened, but after announcing their Daytona 24 line-up he is already
targeting even greater success next year.

The flying Scotsman- who now lives in Windermere, Florida – will
join up with Alex Popow, Allan McNish and Sebastien Bourdais for the
prestigious 24-hour race and will team up with Popow in the #2 Starworks
Ford-Riley for the rest of 2013. He is also planning to defend his FIA
World Endurance Championship LMP2 crown.

Ryan – who originally comes from Lanarkshire, Scotland - has been
in the form of his life in 2012 as he has stormed to victories and podiums
across the globe and he is determined to have more of the same next
year.

He has racked up an incredible run of results that saw him help Fort
Lauderdale-based Starworks Motorsport clinch the inaugural FIA World
Endurance Championship LMP2 class title.

That success included class victories at the Sebring 12Hours in Florida,
Sao Paulo in Brazil and, of course, the Le Mans 24 Hours in France. Ryan,
along with his 2012 team-mates, also combined to put Starworks on the
podium at Silverstone in Britain, Bahrain, Japan and China in the Honda
Performance Development car.

He also achieved a career-best second place in the Rolex Grand-Am Sports
Car series, with a win at Watkins Glen and pole position and second place
in the Daytona 24 in their Ford-Riley. The team also clinched the first
ever North American Endurance Championship.

Ryan took time out to look back at a season of highlights and look
forward to 2013…

How would you rate the season?

It’s been 10 out of 10 for sure. I went into this season knowing
we were going to be strong but I had no idea I would look back and be
speechless about just how amazing it was.

Is it possible to pick out one highlight?

Winning Le Mans is a clear favorite of mine. To stand on the podium in
France in front of 250,000 crazy fans was just an unbelievable feeling.
Since going there in 2010, all I’ve dreamed about is going back and
winning. But it was particularly special to share the moment with my good
friend and boss Peter Baron. Nobody is more passionate about Le Mans and he
made me appreciate what winning there really means.

How tough was it to run a Grand-Am program alongside the FIA WEC?

For me, it was tough. The cars are very different but I know the
Grand-Am car so well that I had that one covered. The WEC P2 car was a
little challenging at first, just because of our lack of testing at the
start of the season. But, by Le Mans, I had found my feet and started to
feel good in the car. But it was undoubtedly tough for the team running two
programs. I watched Peter and the crew have many sleepless nights as they
made sure each car and team was ready to go and win races.

So how pleased were you to finish a career-best second in the Rolex
Sports Car Series?

I am really happy but there is still a part of me saying “what
if” after the on-track incident with Juan Pablo Montoya at
Indianapolis. I truly believe that, if it hadn’t been for that, we
would have won the championship. I am proud of what we accomplished and,
after Indy, we came back really strongly and took points out of Ganassi in
three of the last four races. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough so
we will just have to go back and win it in 2013.

But you have now won all the major endurance race titles. That must make
you very proud?

Yeah, after winning the WEC title in Japan I remember being on the
14-hour flight back to Atlanta for Petit Le Mans and I knew that if I won
there then I’d won all the big ones. I have been asked the question
‘What next to win?’ a number of times this year. All I can say
is I can’t wait to win them twice.

Life never stands still in racing, what are you doing next?

Well, I’ve had some pretty uncomfortable back pain the past few
months. I knew it was pretty serious so I was counting down the days to
some time off so that I could get it taken care of. It turns out I have a
herniated disc in my lower back. I have been getting treatment since we
returned home from China. I’m 90% to where I need to be and am
getting better each day.

Racing-wise, Alex Popow and I are racing a six-hour race in Bogota,
Colombia, on December 8th with Starworks in one of their older DP cars.
Then, on December 15th, we are together again with AF Corsa in the 12 Hours
of Abu Dhabi in a Ferrari 458GT3 along with German Pierre Kaffer.

Daytona has always been a major highlight on your schedule. You
announced your line-up earlier this week - you must be excited about your
chances?

After working with Allan and Seb last season they were our priority
picks and we are thrilled to get two guys like that in our line-up. We are
still considering whether to add a fifth driver but I think it’s
likely that we’ll stick with the four. Last year we proved we had the
speed and reliability to win, we just came up a couple seconds short. This
year, we will be better prepared than ever. We have replaced some key crew
members to strengthen our team from last season so I think putting
everything together will be our strongest showing as a team to date.

When will you get the guys together in the car? Will you be at the
Roar?

Yeah, we chose to skip the November Daytona test mainly because we
wanted to prepare the car better for the Roar. There are a lot of things we
wanted to do on the car that we learned from last year so now we have the
time to concentrate on Daytona builds.

Will you also be back out in the WEC?

That is our plan for sure. We are very close to getting things together
for WEC with driver line-up, and what chassis/engine we will go with. With
the WEC schedule not starting until April we have the luxury to take our
time and not rush into decisions, and make sure all our priority within
Starworks is on Daytona right now. That’s something we did in 2012 -
we combined our WEC/Rolex crews to build the Daytona programs and it turned
out pretty well for us. Hopefully, all going well, we can announce our WEC
program before the end of the year.

You obviously live in America, but how has your success been received
back in your native Scotland? Are you going back soon – for the
Scottish Motor Racing Club (SMRC) awards?

Yes, I will be in Scotland on November 30th for the West of Scotland
Kart Club awards (WSKC, the go-kart club I grew up at) and then December
1st for the SMRC awards. I am very proud of my Scottish heritage and I will
never forget where I come from. I wish I could get back more often but my
racing schedule this year was just too swamped. My wife, Jessica, and I are
spending New Year in Scotland with my family also so we are looking forward
to some cold weather and a good old Scottish breakfast!